What are your property goals?

What are your property goals for the year ahead? And more importantly, how are you going to set out to achieve them? Now is the best time to think long and hard about where you want to take this year.

Are you stuck in an endless renter cycle and are looking for that big break into owning your first home? Perhaps you are more interested in establishing an investment property portfolio to help secure an early or better retirement lifestyle. Or perhaps your goal for 2014 is to simply move out of your parents’ place and into your first rental.

For the very ambitious; perhaps two of the above goals are on the calendar for 2014!Property goals, like all kinds of goals in life, need to be ‘SMART’ – I.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely. Below are five tips that may help in the setting and achievement of goals.

Old-school list makingList makers do more! One of the best ways to benchmark your progress is to create lists, and cross items off as you achieve them.

You should have a list for learning things you need to do, and one for actions you need to complete to get you that step closer to your achieving your property goals.

But don’t take my word for it! Here’s a list of famous list makers, each of them incredibly successful:

Paul McCartneyCate BlanchettMartha StewartBenjamin FranklinThe proof really is in the pudding!Creating a property vision boardNot only do we all learn in different ways, but we each aspire and dream in different ways too. A vision board lets you literally keep your eye on the prizeFor the more visual learners in the world, having a wall of images of you

So yes, that picture of your dream house goes up of course, but so too does perhaps an image of an approved loan. Or, a picture of that deck you’d like to add to your garden in 2014. It can even extend to ‘mini-goals’ along the way, so perhaps each time you achieve a savings target goal, you can stick a picture of a dollar sign up.It can be whatever you want to be. Just make sure that the images not only spur motivation, but action.

Have a property view beyond just this propertyRegardless of what your property goal is for the year ahead, it is likely to involve one property. If it is your first rental property, you need to be thinking beyond this, e.g. what is your next property step after that – perhaps into your first home? Or maybe to continue renting but to purchase an investment?

If it’s home ownership, you ought to look beyond your home and think of how adding an investment property later on, could help pay off your home quicker. And if it is an investment property for 2014, think about how you want to grow your portfolio beyond the first investment purchase.

Get more organised to make better use of your research & action timeFor most, admin is boring and tedious. However, it is an important part of being successful in property goals. Bad property planners spend too much time in the car; driving out and looking at things on their weekends for months and months.

Savvy planners understand that in the information age; 80-90% of your research and work can and should be done online. Whether it’s that new outdoor deck; that new house, or perhaps finding a suburb where you would like to live, it doesn’t matter.

A good planner will find they will minimise the wasted time of constant car trips and traffic jams by making most of the shortlisting decisions using online tools, comparisons, and efficiently filing their research and discoveries in accessible places.

Make the most of digital tools & insights to research & plan efficientlyTalk more about your goals with othersThis one is a bit of a curve ball. For some of us, talking about our property goals with others, and frequently, can help spur action. This is not only because it keeps things top-of-mind, but for some of us, it can positively add more urgency to get things done.

For example, let’s say you’re at an Australia Day BBQ and talking with a friend about your plans to build a granny flat at the back of your property. When they see that same friend at Easter and they ask how that plan is going, and you’ve not actioned any steps, you feel compelled to get in to action. Mostly of course because you want to have the granny flat, but partly because you want to show those whose opinions you can about that you’re the kind of person who follows through.

The other valuable thing about discussing property goals is that you will constantly be surprised at just how many people share similar goals. This means that you may find yourself talking with someone who is further along in the process, and you’ll pick up some tips from them to keep you focused in your goal achievement.

SOURCE: realestate.com.au

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